Arctic Ocean summer ice break-up

Marty’s photo of the day #2312: I love it when I discover a photo on my hard drive that I totally forgot taking. You are looking at the Arctic Ocean summer ice break-up, against the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

I took this photo from a small airplane, shortly after taking off from Barter Island, in incredibly strong winds. I thought for sure our airplane would flip on take-off, but Arctic pilots are the best at dealing with extreme conditions.